Local Project

I wanted to take the design approach to this project rather than fine art, so over the past 6 weeks I have been practicing with the computer programme Adobe InDesign. Learning how to use this programme is a must for those in the design industry, so I decided it would be the best opportunity to learn how to use it by incorporating it into my project.

Because of this I decided to tackle Jerry’s brief and attend his tutorials and snapshots. This task required I create two cover pages along with a double page spread for each. The first being a biography on a famous family member or friend. The cover for this spread must solely be created from type. The second will be titled ‘Colours of New Zealand’ and would include a professionally taken photograph alongside a diverse colour palate, selected from within the image.

For the typographic biography I used my Great Grandfather, Robert Byron Browning, who was a prisoner during WWII, after being shot down while flying by German soldiers. For this cover and double page spread I followed a set out grid to layout the type to get a visual appealing cover, then used the same layout to set out the double page spread.

For this set my aim was to create a visually appealing cover with a matching double page spread. For the cover I made the word WAR bolder and much larger than the rest of the text to give that emphasis which would draw a viewer’s attention. I then cut ‘Prisoner of’ out of the ‘W’ to make the subtitle visually interesting. The subtitle took up three columns whereas the title (Persons Name) only took up two. I did this as I felt war needed more to help give it emphasis. I carried this across the double page spread, by giving the text boxes three columns and image two. I did give the landscape images three columns as I felt they did need to be bigger.

For the next Cover and Double Page Spread, I had to plan out where to take some good quality images to use within the colour book. I decided on going to Dolbel reserve in Taradale, Napier to take photos through the track to portray New Zealand’s greenery. Through this I ended up taking photos of a pink flower which I decided to use in my final piece.

I made the title very small and off to the corner, combining it with a photo that had a smaller area with no flowers in it specifically for the title. This way the title would still be effective and easily read and wouldn’t take away from the actual image. I changed the font colour of the word ‘colour’ to add emphasis and tie in with the image, just to improve the connection between the title and image. For the double page spread I decided on using circular swatches as they were more organic and suited the subject of the image. To create consistency throughout the spread I made the page number a circle as well. The image took up a whole page and a creeped over to the left slightly to create impact for the viewer.

I ended up continuing with the colour book for my final piece however I decided on changing the theme. Wanting to remain ‘Local’ I decided on taking photographs of the Sea Walls murals done through the PangeaSeed Foundation around Napier’s streetscape. I researched the foundation as well as environmental dangers around Hawke’s Bay. Through this research I came across an article on overfishing by Hawke’s Bay fisheries, and even a video documenting a discovery of finned sharks in Napier’s port.

I also looked into New Zealand Book Designer company Saatchi & Saatchi.

Auckland Theatre Company – Saatchi & Saatchi

Auckland Theatre Company – Saatchi & Saatchi

NIL – Saatchi & Saatchi

Looking into Saatchi & Saatchi was very helpful for me while designing my trial books as well as the final copy. I mainly looked into the layout of their work, seeing how they positioned their text as well as their use of grids. Although i couldn’t physically see the grid, I could tell how their layout was structured. It made their work look clean and well organised which is something I wished to portray in my own book design.

The Spectacular and Utterly True History of Tui – James Griffin

The Spectacular and Utterly True History of Tui – James Griffin

I also looked into book ‘The Spectacular and Utterly True History of Tui.’ by James Griffin, designed through Saatchi & Saatchi. For this book I mainly looked at the consistency of their layout throughout the book. They managed to create impact with each page but not overload the viewer with different layouts. Because I will use various images of murals I felt that it would be better to use the same layout throughout each page.

After taking all the images i compiled them into the book, following one layout. I selected my swatches from each image, filling out the codes for the CMYK, RBG, and LAB colour modes. To finish each page off I added the information about each mural, Artist, Name, and Location. I then went through and created additional pages including covers, and title pages to finish off the book to a professional standard.

Above is the Final Cover and Double Page Spread for my Colour book title ‘Colours of the Ocean’. I kept the same layout as my initial colour book trial but just switched the image to the left as I wanted that to have the most impact and added the LAB codes to have a more universal and professional feel to it.